So I’m planning my wedding and of course I have a budget like everyone else. Withought alcohol I’m right on budget but we want to have alcohol at the wedding so I’m willing to go over. My dilemma is that we have to use our venues alcohol which has a 20% service charge and regular tax on top of that. The venue said that an open bar usually costs about $4000 with all the taxes included (this is a bar based on consumption not a package). I also know their wines are very pricey. I’m just not willing to spend that much money in alcohol. So here are some options I’m thinking of and would love others opinions.

elombardo: My venue charged us $10 a heads up front for Beer and wine but we get to choose from her wine shop (on site) and she will get us beer form the local liquor store at wholesale cost. So we will only have to pay a little more fro beer after our up-front “booze deposit” is gone. I kinda like it that way so it’s already in teh budget

She told us if we wanted hard liquor we could keep it in the Bride and groom quarters for family and the bridal party

elombardo: We also had that issue for our wedding. I’m not a big drinker, and therefore hated the thought of wasting a load of money on alcohol. Still we wanted some alcohol available for people. We decided to just have a bottle of red and white wine on the tables (tables had 7-10 people), then a third bottle the staff would bring out if needed. We also had a small tab for just beer if others wanted beer instead of wine. Non alcoholic drinks were also available, and if guests wanted more they could buy more them selves. This seemed to work out well. When you look at your tables, you can roughly work out how much you will need per table. For example some grandparents, or pregnant people, ones who will be driving etc. may not even drink alcohol on the day. Just remember it’s your wedding day. Sometimes you can get carried away trying to please everyone else attending the wedding, remember it’s about you, not your guests. If they want to get really intoxicated, they can do it another day 🙂